Emotional homecoming in Colchester when sailor surprises his family at Veterans event

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

COLCHESTER -- There was a big surprise in Colchester for two brothers Thursday. As with most emotional soldier homecomings, you may want tissues on standby before you watch the video.

Miles, 7, and Michael, 10, were attending a Veterans Day ceremony at their school. Students sang song and then a video clip appeared on a big screen. In the video, their father, who had been stationed in Africa for eight months in the Navy appeared.

Seconds later, Officer Leonard Viggiani, Senior Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy appeared in the gymnasium in real life!

The boys ran to their father for big hugs.

"I want to just break his legs so he can't go anymore," said Miles.

"It was really exciting," said Michael. "They said we were going to get books for Mrs. Lion but no, we weren't. I was psyched."

Viggiani said this was his longest deployment away from his family, about a year.